FARANGĪS

 

FARANGĪS, eldest daughter of Afrāsīāb and wife of Sīāvaḵš. In the Bundahišn (TD2, 35.21) her name is Vīspān-fryā. In Ṭabarī (I, p. 604) it appears as Vasfāfarīd and Vasfafarah. In Ṯaʿālebī’s Ḡorar (p. 205), however, it is recorded as Kasīfarī. On that basis, one might speculate that the no longer extant Šāh-nāma-ye Abū Manṣūrī (See ABŪ MANṢŪR Moḥammad b. ʿABD-AL-RAZZĀQ and ABŪ MANṢŪR MAʿMARĪ) also used this form or possibly Gīsfarī. It was perhaps considerations of prosody that led Ferdowsī to reshape the word as Farīgīs (for a parallel instance see FARĪBORZ). Farīkīs is the form used in Fatḥ b. ʿAlī Bondārī’s Arabic translation of the Šāh-nāma (ed. ʿA. ʿAzzām, Cairo l350/1932). Later, in the surviving manuscripts of the Šāh-nāma, the name was changed to Farangīs, which became its established form (Šāh-nāma, ed. Khaleghi, II, p. 482).

According to the Šāh-nāma, after settling in Tūrān, Sīāvaḵš married Farangīs. She was pregnant with his child when her father had her husband executed; but her own life was saved through Pīrān’s mediation. Her son, Kay Ḵosrow, was born in Pīrān’s house, and entrusted by him to herdsmen for the boy’s own safety. Later, Farangīs and Kay Ḵosrow, by then a young man, fled to Iran with the help of Gēv (Šāh-nāma, ed. Khaleghi,, II, pp. 295-307, 343-75, 422-48; Ṭabarī, I, pp. 600-601; Ṯaʿālebī, Ḡorar, pp. 205-16). According to an appended account in the Šāh-nāma (Moscow, IV, pp. 315-18), Farīborz (brother of Sīāvaḵœ) persuaded a reluctant Farangīs through the mediation of Rostam to marry him at Kay Ḵosrow’s court.

 

Bibliography (for cited works not given in detail, see “Short References”): given in the text.

(Djalal Khaleghi-Motlagh)

Originally Published: December 15, 1999

Last Updated: December 15, 1999